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It was almost 150 years ago that our earliest pioneers faced one of the worst years on their prairie farms when swarms of grasshoppers invaded the land devouring everything in sight. It was at the end of July 1874. For the previous two years there had been good wheat crops and 1874 was no exception. The wheat had just been harvested and the corn fields were promising a good crop. A Jewell County settler, Joel Green, who had a farm west of Burr Oak, on July 21 began to notice swarms of grasshoppers arriving in his fields. Two days later, he...
I’m naturally curious and one of the reasons I decided on a newspaper career was the opportunities the work provided to feed my curiosity. Over the years I have been privileged to get a close up view of many things. For example, once when the natural gas pipeline company serving Superior was replacing a section of the line, the foreman invited me to observe the procedure. In preparation he provided me with the procedure manual that described the work to be done. I read the manual and reported to the job site at the designated time. When I a...
Q: What does a good Christian look like? How do they act? How do I become one? A: This is a wonderful question and one that I hope every sincere Christian asks themselves frequently. For the purpose of this article, I think I can boil the answer down to two basic ideas: to be a good Christian means growing in Christian character (Colossians 2:6-7; Colossians 3:12-15) within a Christian Community (Hebrews 10:25; Ephesians 4:13). The word “Christian” literally means a little Christ (a model or imitation of Jesus). It it’s simplest sense, being...
I’ve admitted in the past that I’m a slow learner, but I just read something a week or so ago that made me think a little about the well-being of so many Nebraskans. Consider the following: • I don’t have exact figures, but a large percentage of Nebraskans are either farmers or working in, or own, an ag related business. • Although farming is a highly risky business, farmers, and those working with them, seem more ‘well-balanced’ than many people working in other professions. • Small town ‘values’ and cultures often follow citizens who were r...
First things first. I have taken another job. I hate to leave the paper, but this job has two things I need - insurance and retirement. I’m getting to the age where those two things seem important. The federal government says I can retire around 76 or so. I don’t know that I will make it that long. LOL! Who knows. I might still be a pool manager at 80, only time will tell. I’m not going to say I have enjoyed every minute of my time as a “journalist,” but I will miss everyone I had the pleasure of working with and getting to know in the last...
The word adventurous means to take a risk, or try new methods and ideas. Have you ever asked yourself what have you done that you considered being the most adventurous? For some it may be be taking a zip line ride, sky diving or mountain climbing but for others it may not be taking those kind of risky adventures. When I think of my most adventurous times, they may be simple but to me they are just as important as the high risk takers. It may be the times standing in from of a group of people and singing a solo or standing in front of judges...
Area residents shouldn’t complain about not having something to do in July for July must be the peak month for community celebrations in the Heartland. I remember the time I had friends visiting from West Virginia. They were en route to a family reunion in South Dakota and only stopped here for the third weekend in July. Like many years the mercury reached 110 on Saturday and I had celebrations in Davenport, Mankato and Republic to cover. I didn’t know what else to do other than load them in the newspaper vehicle and head out for a day of celeb...
When we lived in Rhode Island, our house sat on a 3/4 acre lot. The back of the lot was overgrown with brush and was fenced off for the donkey to roam. In front of the house was a small lawn. My father would mow this lawn with a reel style push mower. If he decided the back yard needed to be mowed, he would borrow a gasoline powered push mower from my grandfather. Moving to Pennsylvania, my father was faced with a huge lawn on a hill. Somewhere he acquired a gasoline powered reel mower. This was a monster that needed to be started with a rope...
Q: Why does God let anyone teach wrong things in His name, sincerely or insincerely? A: One of the things I find most intriguing about the God of the Bible is the extent of the grace He offers to us humans. Human beings are given extraordinary leeway in a variety of areas (including what we teach and tell each other), and God often withholds deserved punishment far longer than any of us would expect. Let’s start with some broader principles. Think about God’s overall character and intentions, then I think we can understand His approach to false...
A O An assassination attempt on former president Donald Trump on Saturday might get all the national news media outlets busy questioning how such a thing could happen in this day and age. They seemed astounded that such a thing occurred. I have to admit I was almost in tears as I watched the news reports and I wondered how and why it had to be. You know, the national media has the same reaction after most any and all “shootings” that have been occurring across our nation in recent years. As I understand it, they answer their own questions. Mos...
Today is bittersweet in a way. It is Jessica’s (my daughter-in-law) last day at the pool. It’s still weird to call her my daughter-in-law. The last four summers I’ve watched her grow as a lifeguard and a young woman. Now as this chapter closes, she moves on to her life as an adult and a married woman. I am a little sad to see her leave, but excited I get to continue to be a part of her life and watch her continue to grow. Her husband had better take good care of her! LOL! On another note, the bugs are horrible this year. My ankles and calve...
Here’s wishing you had a Happy July! It’s always been a favorite month of mine but maybe one reason for that is my birthday falls in July, though I must say I don’t look forward tomy birthday as much as I did years ago. Thoughts of July that come to mind are making homemade ice cream for friends, relatives and family who come for a Sunday afternoon visit; watching the fireworks as they are sent up into the air,bursting and flowing everywhere; trips to the swimming pool the fun of running through the yard sprinkler on a hot day; taking the t...
Like father, like son. After my parents sold their business and moved into town, my mother bought a bicycle. She liked to ride about Superior in the evening with Mabel Davis, a retired farmer’s wife. My father rode a bicycle on short trips around town but, because of his declining health, he didn’t have the stamina to ride as far as the women. He didn’t like sitting inside and started investing in motorized transportation devices. His first purchases were Cushman scooter size trailbikes. The trailbikes allowed him to putt along with the bicycle...
Q: Does the Bible say anything about how we should treat animals? A: Before answering this question, I need to address a mindset that is warping our thinking on this subject. For the past 75 years or so, school systems in America have been teaching that humanity developed alongside animals through a process they call evolution. This teaching erodes the distinction in our minds between human beings and animals, and causes us to think that animals and humans ought to be treated the same. This is why the western world is decreasing penalties for...
When I started traveling in my camper, I made a reservation at a state park in Pennsylvania near some horse trails. I had volunteered to help a local horse club repair a part of their trail around the end of May. From there I planned to attend a Mother Earth Fair in Wisconsin the weekend after the Fourth of July. After making a reservation for this event in Wisconsin, I was left with a little over a month to wander westward. I decided I would find a campsite wherever it looked like there would be an opportunity to do some sight-seeing. Leaving...
Wow, a rain storm over the July 4th holiday weekend. That’s a rare action that should be noted. Here in our household in Lawrence, I often measure fog, or snow storms by the ability to see Main Street of Lawrence through the fog or snow . . . but I don’t remember doing that with rain. However, that rain storm had wind and rain that hit all five sides of the house and I couldn’t see much more than one-half of a block. It didn’t last a long time, but it was intense. We can thank God there was not much damage that I know of. Speaking of rain. M...
I survived the weekend! It wasn’t a bad weekend, just hectic. Robert’s wedding reception was here at the house the evening of the Nelson Funday. I set it that day because I knew he would be here, because he has always taken leave for the Funday, but it also happens to be the busiest day for the pool, and one of the busiest for the paper. The free swim was over at 5 and the reception began at six. Several people were traveling from Kansas, and most of them were over two hours away. The free swim was a hit. We had more than 100 people sign in...
Happy 248th Birthday, America! Lately it seems this “sweet land of liberty” has become more chaotic than patriotic. America is still considered to be the best country in the world and the best place to live and raise a family, but we all need to work to make it remain that way. After all “Freedom Isn’t Free.” Thinking back to when the first American Patriots decided that they didn’t want to live under the rules of England and its king, they began to rebel and stood up for what they believed. Those patriots were few in number and were willin...
Over the years unidentified flying objects have made for a number of interesting newspaper stories. A number of those stories stem from the 1950s and 60s prior to the launch of the first astronauts. I remember being filled with fear listening to news bulletins related to the Russians’ launch of their first Sputnik space satellite on Oct. 4, 1957. The little thing was about the size of a beach ball. In the 1970s, I met and visited with the American who was the first to intercept radio transmissions between the satellite and the Russian scientist...
Q: If a person can’t tithe (i.e. give 10 percent of their income as an offering), does God look down on them? A: It’s easy for believers to slip into a perspective of merit or obligation in regards to charitable gifts. This is because just about everything in our world (religious or otherwise) is based on some kind of merit system. The merit system tells us we have to do things for God-gods-the universe in order to get good things from them. Everything is “paid for” by our good works. While Christians (and sometimes pastors and entire churche...
Singing at Sunday church services varies greatly. If familiar songs are used, the volume is usually greater. If the song is not familiar, people either don’t sing, or do so timidly. Often on national holidays, our church uses patriotic songs. This last Sunday, close to the 4th of July, the ending song was “America the Beautiful” and the response was great. The volume was great as it seemed almost everyone in church was singing. And . . . that song is one of my favorites. A O I try to do my best to sing that song to the best of my abili...
I have four new tires on my car. It’s so nice not having to air them up every day. It even drives a little smoother now that it has the correct size tire. Knowing that the tires were rubbing on the shock, or strut (still can’t tell you which it is) was making me very nervous about driving it too far. I got the cheapest tires I could get, so I have 50,000 miles before I need to replace them. I’ll need new ones by November. LOL! The fresh paint in the pool has become quite troublesome. The floor of the pool is slippery, and when the youngsters pl...
The country roads are busy as wheat harvest is underway. Like all harvests, the farmers are anxiously getting to reap their rewards for all their efforts and costs of planting their crops. Though wheat harvest isn't like it used to be, it still is an exciting time. With the larger combines, semi trucks and tractor-pulled grain carts, harvesting moves much faster these days. There isn't as much wheat planted as there used to be. The crops most planted in recent years are corn and soybeans....
Friday the Blauvelt’s were in Osborne for the funeral of Rita’s nearly 98-year-old mother, Margaret Chatham. While we had not anticipated the funeral, we had planned for weeks to be in Osborne for a family reunion scheduled to be held in the Osborne Free Methodist Church’s fellowship hall. And we were in the hall for several hours but we also went with family, Chatham neighbors and friends to the funeral held at the Osborne cemetery. The Osborne funeral home was in the midst of a remodeling project and not available and since the family was alr...
Q: Some people are totally against celebrating Christmas and Easter, saying it is wrong. Is it? A: Different Christians each have different perspectives and approaches to the holidays. Some churches and believers make a big deal about the holidays, claiming these holidays are inherently Christian, and ought to be celebrated accordingly. Others point to pagan overtones and influences and claim that the holidays are corrupt and shouldn’t be celebrated. What do we make of this? The first thing we must understand is that the Bible clearly grants e...
